


Hidden Hurts

by lln



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo 2020 [3]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, Hurt TK, Hurt/Comfort, TK whump, Whump, worried judd ryder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:50:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lln/pseuds/lln
Summary: Another day on the job, turns out bad for TK. Not that he knows.Square Filled: Doesn't Realize They've Been Injured
Relationships: Judd Ryder & TK Strand, Owen Strand & TK Strand
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641379
Comments: 16
Kudos: 298
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Hidden Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> This kind of follows on from **[He Follows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22832689)**

TK didn't have time to tell anyone about the creepy text messages, because as soon as he walked back into the station the alarms sounded and he was rushed into the truck with the rest of the 126. The messages were completely put on the back burner as TK and the others focused on putting out a small barn fire.

TK and Mateo had been tasked with finding the last farm hand, that had been last seen cleaning out the horse stalls. They had made it inside with no problem, TK leading the duo.

So far, so good. Now they just needed to complete their task and all get out safely.

"Doing okay, Mateo?" TK asked over his shoulder, the probie still new to the actual dangerous parts of the job.

“Yeah,” Mateo replied with a smile.

“Help!” Someone yelled from the back of the barn, “Please! Somebody help me! I can’t move.”

“Where’d that come from, probie?”

Mateo concentrated on the calls, before pointing, “Back left stall.”

“Good job, Mateo.” TK congratulated him, before they made their way to the back of the barn, where the calls of help were coming from.

TK entered the horse stall and immediately spotted the farm hand, his body pinned under a fallen broken beam. Mateo came up behind him, looking around TK at the situation.

"Hi," TK smiled at the young teen, "My name's TK and this is Mateo," TK gestured to the probie, Mateo waving at the sound of his name, "We're here to get you out, so just hang tight. Can you tell me your name?"

The teen had dried tear tacks running down his cheeks and was blinking back even more tears, "'m Jack," He sniffed.

"Okay Jack," TK smiled and crouched down to get a good look at the fallen beam, "Other than your back, can you tell me if anything hurts? Can you feel your legs?"

Jack shook his head, “Nothing else hurts, I just can’t get out and I freaked out when I couldn’t move.”

“That’s good news, Jack,” TK smiled, “That means once we lift this beam, we can get you straight out of here.”

TK moved to one end of the beam and gestured to Mateo to go to the other end, “On three, Mateo and me are going to lift the beam, once you feel you can, move out from under there towards the door. Okay?”

Jack nodded, bracing himself for his moment.

“Mateo, you ready?” Mateo nodded, a look of determination on his, “Good, on three, lift it enough so Jack can get out, we don’t need to struggle and lift it too high. That’s just asking for trouble.”

“Right.”

“Okay, one!” Both firefighters crouched down.

“Two!” TK readjusted his grip.

“Three!” With a grunt, Mateo and TK lifted the beam high enough for Jack to crawl out from.

“I’m out!” Jack yelled out, “I’m out!”

“Awesome, now Mateo, we’ll move the beam back a bit and then we can get out of here.”

Mateo nodded, both firefighters shifted and placed the beam on the ground, further into the back of the stall. A sudden hissing sound filled the stall, Mateo frowned and glanced around for the noise, but he couldn’t find the source.

TK, on the other hand, did. There on the floor, very close to where Jack had been trapped, was a canister. It must have been hidden by the beam and now that the beam had been moved, it was making itself known. The canister shook violently, the heat of the fire affecting the gas inside.

TK’s eyes widened, “Mateo get down!”

Mateo, heeding the advice, dropped like a rock, his arms going up to cover his head. The top of the canister popped off like a cork and the expanding gas forced the canister airborne, straight towards TK.

TK attempted to drop to the floor as well, but reacted too slowly. Just as he dropped, the canister made contact, glancing off TK’s left side. The force flipped TK around and he landed on the floor on his back with a thud, his helmet flew off and TK’s head bounced off the ground hard. All while the canister continued on and hit the side of the barn, embedding itself there.

TK’s world went black, but only for a moment.

Blinking rapidly, TK fought through the haze that threatened to drag him under again. Shaking his head, to clear the cobwebs, TK dragged himself to a sitting position and reached out for his fallen helmet and put it back on his head. His heart was beating rapidly and TK could feel the adrenaline pumping throughout his body. Looking around, TK could still Mateo with his head down.

“All good, Mateo?”

At the sound of his name, Mateo peeked up. Looking around, the younger man could see Jack in the doorway and TK sitting across from him.

“I think so,” Mateo frowned, taking a catalogue of his body, nothing hurt, which was a good thing, “What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” TK reassured his partner, he couldn't feel anything hurting, so he must have been fine.

“TK! Mateo!” TK’s radio crackled to life, Judd was on the other end, “How are you going in there? Do you have the missing farmhand?”

TK grabbed his own radio and answered, “Yeah Judd, we’re all good here. We found Jack and we’re making our way out now.”

“Okay, that’s good. We’ll see you soon.”

“Okay Mateo, let’s get out of here,” TK managed to get himself up to his feet without much difficulty and then pulled Mateo up as well, “How do you feel about walking Jack?”

“Um,” Jack bit his bottom lip in thought, “I think I’m going to need some help?”

TK and Mateo smiled at the teen, “That’s what we’re here for.”

Mateo and TK each hooked one Jack's arms over their shoulders and started the walk towards the exit. It only took a few minutes, before the trio made it out of the barn. The firefighters leading Jack to the waiting ambulance and handing him off to Michelle and her team.

"Lucky last," TK smiled at Michelle as he and Mateo sat Jack down on the gurney, "This is Jack, he was pinned under a fallen beam."

"Thanks TK," Michelle looked over Jack, "My name is Michelle, I'm going to be looking after you now. Can you tell me if anything hurts?"

"Do either of you two need looking over?" Tim asked.

"Nah, we're all good," TK smiled, clapping Mateo on the shoulder, "Right probie?"

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Mateo smiled.

“Okay,” Tim turned back to help Michelle out.

“Come on,” TK hooked his arm around Mateo’s shoulders and steered him back towards the truck, “Time for us to head back.”

\----

Finally back at the station and TK was ready for his shift to be over. Leaving his boots and outer uniform in his locker, TK picked up some fresh clothing, his shower bag and headed towards the showers. His plan was to clean up and then head home to crash for a good 12 hours.

Humming to himself, TK was lost in his own world as he dumped his stuff on the bench. With a practised motion, TK pulled his shirt off and threw it towards his bag.

“What the fuck?!” TK jumped and turned around, when he heard someone yell behind him.

TK stared at Judd, confusion painted on his face, “What the hell yourself, Judd. What’s with the yelling?”

But Judd could only look in horror at the younger man’s back and shoulder through the mirror. TK’s entire back and shoulders were one large black bruise, numerous cuts and scratches littered the surface. Dried blood trailed down the back of TK’s neck, starting someplace in his hair and the whole left side of his chest looked like something heavy and circlaur had collided with it.

Judd took two steps forward and gently gripped TK’s upper arms and maneuvered the younger man to sit down on the bench. The whole time, TK tried to, unsuccessfully, bat Judd’s hands away.

“Probie!” Judd hollered out the open door, keeping a firm hold of TK as he squirmed in his hold.

Moments later, Mateo poked his head in, confusion painting his face, “If this is about the coffee machine, I didn’t . . . .” Mateo trailed off at the sight of TK, “What happened TK?”

TK frowned, “Judd’s acting weird.”

Mateo’s eyes widened, “But . . . Can’t you feel all that?”

“All wha-”

“Mateo,” Judd firmly interrupted, “Go get Michelle or one of her team. Bring them here, quickly,” Mateo didn’t move, his eyes not leaving the sight of TK chest, “Now! Mateo!” Judd yelled.

Mateo jumped at the level of noise Judd created, before turning on his heels and dashing out the bathroom.

“Don’t go scaring the kid Judd,” TK huffed, accepting that Judd wasn’t going to be letting go of him anytime soon, “So, what’s Grace going to say when I tell her you had your hands all over me?” He teased, trying to lighten the mood of the room.

“She’ll know it was for a good reason.” Judd was focused on trying to assess the damage to TK’s ribs, he pressed lightly on the darkest part of the circular bruising.

TK hissed in pain, “Oh, that’s new.”

Before TK could make sense of what Judd was doing, Mateo was back and he was nearly pulling the arm off a tired looking Tim, with his paramedic bag.

“Judd this better be good,” Tim sounded as tired as he looked, “I was just about to clock out. Your newbie couldn’t tell me what you wanted.”

“Take a look for yourself.” Judd gestured towards TK.

Tim managed to get around the hovering Mateo and gasped at the sight of the sitting firefighter.

“What the hell?!” Tim hissed, pulling his bag off his shoulder and crouching down next to Judd, “You told me you weren’t injured back at the farm!”

TK looked down at his ribs and frowned, “I thought it missed me.”

“What missed you?” Judd asked, as Tim started to remove the necessary equipment, while muttering under his breath about idiot firefighters masking their injuries, “Mateo go inform the Captain of what’s happening.”

“But-”

“It’s okay, TK will be fine, but Cap needs to know. Go on.” Mateo looked worried as he hurried out the door.

“Uh,” TK blinked owlishly, the pain was starting to make itself known, “It was just this canister thing, after we got Jack out. Flew through the air, thought I ducked in time. Didn’t feel a thing until now.”

“Uh huh,” Tim muttered, “And the head injury?”

“Head injury?” TK reached up and attempted to find said injury. His face screwed up in pain when his fingers brushed against an oozing gash on the back of his head, “Oh that. Maybe from when I hit the floor?”

“Hit the floor?” Tim frowned, as he smacked TK’s hand away from the gash, “Your helmet should have taken the brunt of the impact.”

“It may have come off when I fell,” TK muttered under his breath.

“Really?!” Tim paused and blinked at TK’s answer, “Really?! And you didn’t think at all to mention this to anyone. Anyone at all? Yes Michelle was busy, but you had Karen or myself you could have told. Hell your dad was there.”

TK shrugged and then winced at the pain the motion caused, “I wasn’t hiding anything, I really wasn’t hurting when we carried Jack out, I wasn’t even hurting until Judd sat me down, so I didn’t think anything of it. Little things happen on the job all the time and I usually just walk it off. No need to worry anyone about a small spill.”

“This is more than a _small spill_ TK,” Judd frowned at the younger man’s lack of concern, “This could have turned into something more serious.”

TK blinked at Judd, “If I thought I had actually hurt myself on the farm I would have spoken to someone, trust me, I’m not a fan of being in pain. I just really didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

“Say I’m willing to believe that,” Judd huffed as he held items that Tim was handing him as the paramedic worked, “This happens again, no matter how small you think it is, you have to tell someone.”

TK opened his mouth to reply, but was beaten to it when Owen was led into the bathroom by Mateo.

“I agree with Judd, TK.”

“Dad!”

“No TK, we’ve talked about this, no secrets.”

“Yes dad.” TK agreed with a sigh.

“So Tim, what’s the verdict?” Owen asked.

Tim finished wrapping TK’s ribs before standing and assessing the head wound, “By the looks of this, it won’t need stitches. So you’re at least lucky there. Bruising on TK’s back is from the impact of hitting the ground, so you’ll need to rest to recover from that. The ribs are at minimum bruised, we won’t know for sure until after a x-ray. There is a high chance that they could be fractured, at worse you’ve broken them. Seeing as you’re not having any trouble breathing, I’ll say your lung hasn’t been punctured. Either way, I recommend taking him to the hospital, get that x-ray and take it from there.”

Owen grimaced as Tim explained TK’s injuries, “Thank you Tim for your assistance. You too Judd. We’ll get right on that.” He turned to TK, “Let’s get you covered up and we’ll head to the hospital before we head home.”

“Yeah okay dad.”

“Do you need any help getting him to your car, Cap?” Judd asked as he stood up.

“No Judd we should be fine, go head home to Grace.” Owen clapped Judd on the shoulder in thanks, “You too Mateo, don’t worry.”

The three men slowly filed out of the bathroom, Mateo glancing back with worry as Judd steered him out, thus leaving TK alone with his dad. TK sighed and forced himself to look up at his dad.

Owen reached over to TK’s bag and pulled out a well worn yellow hoodie. Gently, Owen helped TK to stand and then helped him put on the hoodie, “Come on son, let’s get you out of here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also posting these to my tumblr, **[llnwritings](https://llnwritings.tumblr.com/)** , so come and leave me some prompts if you want


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